Re: Mad idea

To: Development Discussions <developer at arabeyes dot org>

Subject: Re: Mad idea

From: Behdad Esfahbod <behdad at cs dot toronto dot edu>

Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 16:09:58 -0400

It's simply not true that current rendering engines process a
letter at a time. You better have a look at OpenType technology.
Not all of that is implemented in Windows or Pango, but they
already do a bit of Nasta'liq with the implemented parts.
On Fri, 11 Jun 2004, abdulhaq wrote:
> On Friday 11 June 2004 20:37, Ahmad Khalifa wrote:
>
> > Then why not just patch xfs ?
> > I personally didnt understand most of your ideas but, i'd be willing to
> > help, if you need it.
> >
> >
>
> I think you need to read Thomas's pdf(s). He argues that current arabic
> rendering techniques on computers is fundamentally flawed because it
> (simplifying greatly and generalising) renders one glyph at a time, and also
> the nuqaaT/dots are built into the glyph rather than added after rendering
> the word (sometimes leading to overlapping or confusing nuqaaT).
>
> The apparent answer is to build an arabic script renderer which takes entire
> words or even sentences and renders them in a much improved way. He has
> developed a program called ACE (which I know nothing about) that appears to
> address a number of these issues but is fundamentally constrained by the
> machinations of Windows. It is also a proprietary product.
>
> Your help and skills would be greatly appreciated. I think the 'madness :-)'
> needs to be taken out first by thrashing out the ideas with anyone who is
> interested - as many as possible.
>
> As to patching xfs, I suppose I am sort-of talking about that, but I think it
> would be better to have a rendering server that drew on features of xfs
> rather than the other way around. Client programs (to xfs) such as Qt would
> have to be modified anyway to pass data by word and not character, so
> preserving an xfs-type interface isn't possible (I think).
>
> I must stress this is just blue-sky thinking at the moment but it would be
> great if after consideration we could do something. I don't want to start,
> though, without thinking that it's possible to ultimately deliver something
> good.
>
> wassalaam
> abdulhaq
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>
--behdad
behdad.org